Making a Lazy Susan

This gives a long description of how I make my Lazy Susans, and what all goes into doing it.
Now before I get started on this little demonstration of how I do it, let me caution you on a couple things. IF you try anything like this, take the plate that your saw blade comes up through and close that hole completely up with a thin piece of wood. Make sure it is even with the top, with no gaps and no lips to catch the pieces. You want it smooth. Then with a “Hollow ground plywood blade” come up from the bottom so you have no gap between the blade and the wood. You may have to do this a couple times so the blade does not rub on the wood. You don’t want to use a blade with any set to the teeth or you will be throwing pieces all over the place.
You will be working close to the blade in some steps so you don’t want a big gap next to the blade. I started off using an old power saw and progressed up to a foot powered table saw. This gives me the advantage that IF I hit my fingers, my feet stop (I never have). You may not have that feature on your particular saw, so if you don’t have common since around power tools, stick to knitting.
I have 7 Blog entries in my Lumberjocks site that with a careful reading on your part should answer most any questions that you might have on how I do my craft.
lumberjocks.com/WoodMosaics

Making a Lazy Susan #1
Take a piece of ½” Baltic Birch Plywood and drew 8 lines clear across it, intersecting in the middle, equally spaced. They will be used to help guide the inner and outer points of the star, to try and keep them on the line. In the first and second pictures I have the lines drawn and the first 8 diamonds glued on forming the center of the star.

Making a Lazy Susan #2
Take a piece of ½” Baltic Birch Plywood and drew 8 lines clear across it, intersecting in the middle, equally spaced. They will be used to help guide the inner and outer points of the star, to try and keep them on the line. In the first and second pictures I have the lines drawn and the first 8 diamonds glued on forming the center of the star.

Making a Lazy Susan #3
This picture shows the jig I made to make the large diamond .734 across each way. I cut them from a strip of wood .200” thick; I ripped off the edge of a board then narrowed down to .734” wide. The diamonds have to all be uniform or it will through the whole design off, and multiply any error.

Making a Lazy Susan #4
This picture shows the jig I made to make the large diamond .734 across each way. I cut them from a strip of wood .200” thick; I ripped off the edge of a board then narrowed down to .734” wide. The diamonds have to all be uniform or it will through the whole design off, and multiply any error.

Making a Lazy Susan #7
Once the pieces are cut and ready I glue them on the plywood, bringing one point at a time out to the tip. After I glue each row on, the glue that squeezes out the bottom of the piece needs to be shaved off using a chisel so the next row can fit up tight against it.

Making a Lazy Susan #8
Once the pieces are cut and ready I glue them on the plywood, bringing one point at a time out to the tip. After I glue each row on, the glue that squeezes out the bottom of the piece needs to be shaved off using a chisel so the next row can fit up tight against it.

Making a Lazy Susan #9
Before I glue the pieces on each point I lay them out in the order they will be glued on to the point. I always make sure the grain of the wood is going the right way. The grain on points # 1, 2, 5, and 6 all go the same way. The grain on points #3, 4, 7 and 8 are 90 degrees off from the other 4 points of the star. Wood reflects light according to the way the grain runs. Making the star this way will, in some lighting conditions, give the points of the star different colors compared to each other.

Making a Lazy Susan #17
This picture shows the jig I made to make the large triangle. It has to be adjusted to the right angle so four pieces fit and make a square with no gaps. The size has to be adjusted so it fills the space between the tips of the diamonds.

Making a Lazy Susan #18
This picture shows the jig I made to make the large triangle. It has to be adjusted to the right angle so four pieces fit and make a square with no gaps. The size has to be adjusted so it fills the space between the tips of the diamonds.

Making a Lazy Susan #24
I then lay a triangle in the space and measure out ½” all the way around the star. The short line you see here is the cutoff line. The longer line is the line the pieces will come out to when the top is all laid out.

Making a Lazy Susan #25
I have just laid these 5 pieces in position so you can see how they come out over the cutoff line. This is so I can bring another piece up under the piece on the top. It will give the illusion of being bent over the edge

Making a Lazy Susan #37
I again tilt the table to a 22 ½ degree angle and bevel one edge of the triangle so it will fit tight together as it fits together at the corners. I have an untested theory on this close cutting process that if I hit my fingers my feet will stop.

Making a Lazy Susan #38
I again tilt the table to a 22 ½ degree angle and bevel one edge of the triangle so it will fit tight together as it fits together at the corners. I have an untested theory on this close cutting process that if I hit my fingers my feet will stop.

Making a Lazy Susan #39
I again tilt the table to a 22 ½ degree angle and bevel one edge of the triangle so it will fit tight together as it fits together at the corners. I have an untested theory on this close cutting process that if I hit my fingers my feet will stop.

Making a Lazy Susan #41
I then glue the Hackberry pieces that I beveled onto the corner, at the same time gluing them to the overhanging top piece also. I fill in between the corners with Walnut triangles glued to the top pieces and the sides.

Making a Lazy Susan #42
I then glue the Hackberry pieces that I beveled onto the corner, at the same time gluing them to the overhanging top piece also. I fill in between the corners with Walnut triangles glued to the top pieces and the sides.

Making a Lazy Susan #45
The last two pieces by each corner has to be cut to fit with each other on the foot powered table saw. I tilt the saw; hold the lazy susan in my lap while peddling the saw, and mark and cut the two pieces so they will fit together when put into place.

Making a Lazy Susan #46
The last two pieces by each corner has to be cut to fit with each other on the foot powered table saw. I tilt the saw; hold the lazy susan in my lap while peddling the saw, and mark and cut the two pieces so they will fit together when put into place.